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OH, BEHAVE! Keeping Manners In Mind
by Annet King

The skin therapist has chosen a career in a service profession. This means that the skin therapist must ALWAYS be courteous. As with a wait-person in a restaurant, an airline reservations associate, or a hotel employee…regardless of how flippin’ rude a customer gets, the service professional must never, ever respond in kind. Tempting though it may be. (I will say this, however: if your airline luggage is forever being misrouted to, say, Sydney…you may need to ask yourself why.)

And, as a professional skin therapist who trains other skin therapists worldwide, one of my most deeply held beliefs is that courtesy is a two-way street. I am always coaching my fellow skin therapists on how to show the client respect. And—as a client—you must do the same!

The industry standard is now that the skin therapist or other pro will call you to confirm. As part of my trainings, I advise that the pro always leave a phone message or send the client a quick text confirmation. Likewise, I advise that clients put the appointment right into their “crackberry” or iPhone calendar on the spot! It is also industry standard to charge you for a missed appointment.

For this reason, and for common decency, always show respect for the therapist’s time. Realize that if you arrive more than 15 minutes late for an appointment, you’ve really done some damage to the day’s bookings. Whenever possible, call ahead when you’re stuck in traffic or running late for whatever reason—sometimes we can shuffle the calendar around to accommodate everyone.

And if you just simply show up late, do show sensitivity and offer to cut your visit short so as not to completely twang the timing of the next client. And, add an additional 5% to the tip. Call it guilt-money. Whatever, luv, just do it!

If a skin therapist, hairdresser or other pro keeps you waiting more than 15-20 minutes, you’re well within your rights to leave. Don’t storm out, just tell the receptionist and then leave. The forfeit of the appointment and its revenue should be enough to send a very clear message to everyone involved. The marketing-savvy professional will call you in the morning with the offer of a comp service—“comp” in this case meaning to “compensate”. If not, then you are well within your rights, from any etiquette standpoint, to take your business elsewhere, without apology or explanation.

OH, BEHAVE! Keeping Manners In Mind
by Annet King

Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m Annet King, Director of Global Education for the Dermalogica brand, and for The International Dermal Institute.

I’ve been a professional skin care educator for 20 years, and I’ve worked with students and professional skin therapists around the world. One thing I know for certain is that first impressions are indeed lasting impressions, and being introduced properly to someone else is the best way to start things off on the right foot, both professionally and personally.

A proper and courteous introduction is the foundation to a comfortable social relationship. And that’s exactly what this new blog is all about: forming and maintaining mutually beneficial social relationships.

If you’re a client at a skin care center, a salon, or spa, you should never be accosted by the receptionist or other employee asking, “Are you my 4:00 o’clock?”. If this happens, you have every right to slowly lower your copy of whatever you’re reading, glower icily across the room, and say in measured tones, “Well, I’m not certain about your schedule. But my name is Mildred.”

The bloody, bloomin’ flippin’ nerve, really! I feel the same way when friends and I are shopping, or seated for a nice dinner, and a wait-person or other employee asks brightly, “How are you guys doing?”, as though we were all being hosed down in a communal shower-pit and might need more soap. Whatever happened to “Good afternoon,” or “Good evening, and welcome” ?

Yes, I am English, but that’s hardly the point. Do British people have better manners than Americans? In general, perhaps. But trust me, this is a learned skill.

In more formal times, people in polite society literally did not speak to one another socially until they had been properly introduced by a trusted associate. No need to go quite that far. But with so much talk these days of technology eroding our language and communication, I do feel that the very humanity of human interaction itself may be restored if we make more of an effort to be simply courteous to one another.

We cannot exactly demand good manners from others. We can only lead by example. Starting today.

Try out a “please” or a “thank you” where none has gone before. Instead of grunting the usual monosyllabic responses “Yup”, or “Nope”, try answering a question with a complete sentence, as in, “Yes, it is”, or “No, it is not.” This becomes habit-forming, and the next thing you know, you’re no longer a rude person.

In which case, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.

Guest blogger: Franzene Gonzale, Dermalogica Intern

Editor’s note: High school student Franzene Gonzalez currently works as a summer intern at Dermalogica headquarters in Carson, California. Anticipating her senior year at Gertz-Ressler High School in 2011, Franzene came to us through her work with Step Up Women’s Network (suwn.org), a national empowerment-oriented nonprofit organization.

So far, summer, 2010 feels like no other. My sisters got their careers on-track through Step Up Women’s Network, and now I am following in their footsteps through working at Dermalogica. I know that getting any summer-job is considered lucky these days, and I am especially honored to be here. The HQ building is unusual, and very modern.

For the past few years, I’ve worked at Franzene’s Flowers. When recruiters look at my resume, they think our family floral business belongs to me! Actually, it’s my mom’s business, and I have worked part-time for her since 2007. She named the company after me. ☺

I think working with her, as well as other projects, has given me a knack for business. I’m good at math. My plan after graduation is to study chemistry, maybe pre-med. I’m looking at a couple of colleges right now.

At Dermalogica, I work with the sales department. I take even the smallest task seriously; this is a business skill I learned from my mother. I’m learning about the company’s territories and sales regions, and supporting the business consultants, so I’m learning a lot about how a big company runs on a day-to-day basis.

I work from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., then I go to my mom’s flower shop. And I swim, and try to get my exercise outdoors– I love getting out of the house, especially in the summertime. This internship is going to be a great learning experience for me and I can’t wait to share more about my time here on my next blog entry.

Guest Blogger: Nicole Rumore, Store Manager, Dermalogica in SoHo

There’s a scary place we’ve all been to.

It begins the morning of a big meeting or job interview. Or it begins as the sun is setting, the evening that you have a really romantic date.

Let’s just say that your skin care has been casual up until that moment. Maybe you’ve been preparing for the meeting, or losing sleep waiting for the date. Whatever.

The big moment is just about to arrive and—just like that– your skin betrays you. Weird oiliness in the T-zone. Plugged pores. Flakes. Tired lines. Or even the surfacing of a mighty and terrible headlight. Oh, no!

As the seconds tick down, the drill goes something like this: Scrub. Apply ice-cube. Fret. Stamp feet. Grab phone, consider cancelling. Throw phone into corner. Possibly break nail. Apply witch-hazel, mouthwash, or anything slightly medicinal to affected area. Then start laying on the foundation. Then dabbing on the concealer, in several shades, to try to disguise whatever it is.

Finally, you run out the door to the big moment, confidence shattered. Everything probably goes great anyway, because of your smile, brains, and personality. But at that moment you realize that your skin will play hardball every chance it gets. Neglect it, and pay.

This was my inspiration recently as I met with about 600 of my favorite people, New York City’s professional makeup artists! They converged on the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea as part of the annual New York Makeup Show, and Dermalogica was there to support their brilliance and creativity with our brand’s world-class skin care.

We Face Mapped (our complimentary skin analysis), and offered skin lessons at the Skin Bar, where they tested, splashed, sprayed and played to their collective hearts’ content. We gifted them with killer samples, which made everybody giddy, and even raffled off a dream-basket of Dermalogica product valued at $350.

We all love the drama of a smoky eye or the va-va-voom of the perfect dark-red lip. And healthy, clean, vibrant skin makes makeup even better. And on the subject of clean: the makeup artists at the show were major addicts for Dermalogica PRECLEANSE, which melts off even hardcore theatrical makeup. Yes, it’s an oil. But unlike baby oil or mineral oil—a major no-no—this non-greasy featherweight blend does NOT create milia (teeny bumps or plugs under the skin). It’s the first step to clean, gorgeous, makeup-friendly skin.

And speaking of friendly, don’t be a stranger. I’m the SoHo Store Manager for Dermalogica’s concept space in New York City. When you’re in the neighborhood, please stop in, and let’s talk skin!

Guest blogger: Marcus D., MANHATTAN

It’s almost Father’s Day, an occasion which makes any reasoning man think about the future. Not to mention UV protection and exfoliation.

I have not yet shared my gene pool—in other words, I’m not a father myself, with no immediate plans, thank you. However, I do have a lot of respect for my own father, who has really been ahead of his time in so many ways. Except one. Moisturizing is not in his vocabulary.

Dad is manly without being a macho blowhard. He’s always kind, which I now realize is a particular, underrated kind of strength. But thanks to Dermalogica, I realize that I have a filial obligation to bring him out of the Stone Age when it comes to his skin.

I just got back from a cool happening here in NYC, at Dermalogica’s place in SoHo. And I also just heard from my buddy Jason in LA that his gf dragged him to the same event on the West coast—crazy! I do say dragged, because I know Jason. But according to Angela, the gf, they couldn’t get him to leave because he liked his MZT (MicroZone® skin treatment) so much and wanted more. Turns out she’s been a major Dermalogican for years—who knew. Now Jason has joined the “tribe”—ha ha, that’s what they call it.

These events combined drew 150 people, all via THRILLIST.com, one of my guilty pleasures when I’m supposed to (ahem) be working.

Back to Dad. He washes his face with the same green-and-white marbled deodorant bar he uses in the shower. He uses the foamy menthol shave cream from the aerosol can. Lip balm—the 49 cent kind—is his biggest skin care investment: he buys a new one every year, usually on the eve of a big fishing trip. Never cherry—the mere idea makes him roll his eyes.

Talk about genes worth passing on. He looks great for his age. A little blotchy and craggy, maybe. But since I don’t want to give him yet another stupid necktie for Father’s Day, I’m gifting him with the Dermalogica goodybag products I picked up at the THRILLIST event: Climate Control (for the lips) and a Deluxe Shave Kit. I took a whiff: cloves. Cinnamon? Yummy.

Oh, and don’t worry about me, sacrificing my precious young skin for dear old Dad. I bought the full sizes of all of the above for myself.